The Quality of Qualitative Data: Two Strategies for Analyzing Medical Interviews

Using transcripts drawn from doctor-patient consultations, the authors examine two methods of assessing the reliability of data and the validity of their interpretations, which stress the need for quality control procedures as an integral and systematic component of the analysis of qualitative data.

Abstract

Researchers are familiar with claims that, for various reasons, many conceptions of reliability and validity are inappropriate to the analysis of qualitative data. Using transcripts drawn from doctor-patient consultations, the authors examine two methods of assessing the reliability of data and the validity of their interpretations. First, the method of intercoder agreement is used and assessed. Second, the methods of conversation analysis are applied. Both methods stress the need for quality control procedures as an integral and systematic component of the analysis of qualitative data. These analyses also reinforce the observation that the strategy ofanalysis chosen can influence the results obtained. By taking seriously some quantitative critiques about the reliability of quali tative data, a position opposed to the "paradigm war" in social science is maintained.